The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) announced today that seven foreign flagged ships were under detention in UK ports during August 2012 after failing Port State Control (PSC) inspection.
Here is the list of those ships, and the outrageous discrepancies found by Port State inspectors...
Vessel name: - Sam Phoenix (Bulk Carrier)
Imo No: - 9588407
Flag: - Hong … [Read more...]

A Miami-based ship surveyor faces up to 15 years in prison after a federal jury in Miami has convicted him of lying to the Coast Guard and for falsely certifying the safety of ships at sea.
According to a U.S. DoJ release, Alejandro Gonzalez, 60, of Miami-Dade County, Fla., was convicted by a federal jury in Miami of three counts of making false statements to the U.S. Coast … [Read more...]

WASHINGTON – To complement its existing safety inspection regime for foreign-flagged vessels operating in U.S. waters, the U.S. Coast Guard Friday announced an additional layer of risk-based safety oversight for mobile offshore drilling units (MODUs) as part of an ongoing review of marine safety policies following the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, fire, and … [Read more...]

Our friends at the Unofficial Coast Guard Blog ask the question, Are CG Inspectors Wasting Their Time? they write:
As I mentioned at the end of a previous post, there is a substantial body of academic literature that examines the effectiveness of regulatory enforcement. The article (PDF link) I am discussing in this post finds that violations resulting from tank barge … [Read more...]

Where are the Inspectors?
By John G. Denham
Each day I read articles in newspapers, see TV clips and peruse blogs featuring maritime accidents. My computer's "favorites" has a list of bad news reporters that keep me informed of the casualty " de jour." Why so many?
In November 1942 I arrived in Honolulu in the Territory of Hawaii. I was 16. I arrived on USAT Ernest Hinds, … [Read more...]